EC guidelines to safely restart travel in Europe
Travel Biz News —
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), has welcomed a major new EU initiative which aims to help restart summer holidays across Europe in 2020 and beyond, and save millions of jobs in the travel tourism sector.
The European Commission’s Tourism & Transport Package has been designed to ensure a coordinated approach at a European level, to ease restrictive measures and restore mobility.
The move by the European Commission is hoped to herald a phased restart of travel across Europe this summer, while ensuring the safety and health of travellers and those who work in the sector.
The initiative follows a similar drive by WTTC, which represents the global travel and tourism private sector, which recently launched global ‘Safe Travel’ protocols for travel in the ‘new normal’.
Earlier , WTTC unveiled “Safe Travels” – a range of new worldwide measures to restart the tourism sector.
The measures have been designed to rebuild confidence among consumers so they can travel safely once the restrictions are lifted.
The new Safe Travels protocols provide consistency to destinations and countries as well as guidance to travel providers, operators, and travellers, about the new approach to health and hygiene in the post COVID-19 world.
Evidence from WTTC’s Crisis Readiness report, which looked at 90 different types of crises, highlights the importance of public-private cooperation to ensure that smart policies and effective communities are in place to enable a more resilient tourism sector.
WTTC, is devising the new Safe Travels protocols following close consultation with its members, as well as industry associations like Airports Council International (ACI), Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), to bring confidence back and set clear expectations of what travellers may front in their next trip.
The new Safe Travels protocols will apply across the main industries within travel and tourism including hospitality, aviation, airports, cruise operators, retail, transportation, MICE and tour operators amongst others.
Source : WTTC May 19 , 2020
Image : A view of Hallslatt , Austria / visiteurope
